New and Altered Game Elements
'A Word on Changes' This campaign setting is based around the rules of Paizo's Pathfinder d20 gaming system. There are a lot of things covered in this guide, and even certain gameplay aspects are changed to better fit the subject matter. As such it may be confusing at times to know what aspects you refer to the PHB for and what aspects you would refer to this guide for. This guide provides you the basis to play in the Quest for Glory world. Classes, Races, Spells and Feats should only be acquired from this book. Furthermore, it is very important to read this chapter in full, including the next section (which covers the Stamina gameplay mechanic) before reading the rest of the manual. 'Changes' 'No Cross-Classes' You may take cross-class skill ranks, but you may not take more than one character class. The Paladin class is a Prestige class and is the only exception. 'Skill Points' You may only assign two ranks to any one skill per level, regardless of how long the skill has been an in-class skill, and regardless of the current max ranks for an in-class skill at your level. 'Stamina and Mana' Each character is given two new vital statistics called Stamina and Mana. See the next section, Stamina & Mana, for more information. 'Unavailable Skills' The following skills are unavailable: Fly, Knowledge (religion), and Knowledge (the planes). Also, Craft (alchemy) is only available to Warlocks. 'Languages' The following are the languages that exist in Gloriana: *Regional languages: Arabic, English, French, German, Greek, Hieroglyphics*, Italian, Latin, Slovak, Spanish, and Swahili; *Mystic languages: Arcane (a), Fae (a), Runic* (n), and Sylvan (n). Languages marked with an asterisk (*) are strictly written languages. Languages marked with an (a) require a rank in Knowledge (arcane), and languages marked with an (n) require a rank in Knowledge (nature); this limitation does not apply to races that have these languages as an automatic second language. All PC races are fluent in English by default. All languages are available to all races unless otherwise noted. 'Off-hand Swap' If your Base Attack Bonus is +1 or greater, you may also carry a Light or One-Handed weapon in the offhand you are using to hold a shield (but not a Tower Shield), which you may not attack with. Doing so disables you from being able to perform a Shield Bash. When you throw, drop, or otherwise lose the weapon in your primary hand, you may switch to the weapon in your off-hand as a Swift action as if you had Quick Draw for purposes only of switching hands with this weapon. You immediately regain your ability to perform Shield Bashes once you have done this. You may attack with this weapon in the same round as if swapping hands counted as your first attack (therefore if your Base Attack Bonus is +5 or less, you may not attack with this weapon in this round), unless you have the Quick Draw feat in which case you may attack with it normally. 'Sneak Attack' You may not make ranged sneak attacks unless you have abilities or feats that allow you to do so, or unless you are using a bow or crossbow within 20’. 'Optional Point Buy' All of the encounters in the campaign are based around creatures built around a 25-point buy system for their ability scores, with all ability scores starting at 8. It is not necessary to run the campaign using the point buy system for creating player-characters, but it is recommended. 1:1 to 14, 1:2 to 16, 1:3 for 17 and over. 'Natural 20's and Natural 1's' When you roll a die, you are usually going to be adding modifiers to the roll; therefore, the value of your roll is these modifiers added to the number the die lands on. The natural roll of a die is the number that the die actually lands on. When rolling a d20, a natural 1 and a natural 20 are special, depending on what kind of roll you are making. Natural 20 Natural 1 Attack Rolls A natural 20 on an attack roll is an automatic hit. This applies to melee attacks and any ranged attack made within the range modifier (including magical Ranged Touch attacks). Critical hits function as normal. A natural 1 on an attack roll is an automatic miss, and must be followed with a critical confirm roll; failing this roll is considered a Critical Failure. Saving Throws and Skill Checks A natural 20 on a skill check (excluding Knowledge checks) on a saving throw allows an additional 1d10 to be added to the resulting check. A natural 1 on a saving throw or a skill check is an automatic failure. 'Grievous Wounds' When a creature takes more than 50 damage from a single attack, they will acquire a grievous wound -- which is a wound that may temporarily or permanently affect a creature. Roll 1d100 to find the grievous wound from the following chart that the character will be inflicted with. Cosmetic damage (such as facial scars) do not affect the creature beyond physical appearance, but others will have descriptions for their detrimental effects on the creature. Grievous wounds only affect creatures with critical biological functions, such as those susceptible to precision damage including critical hits and sneak attacks; they therefore do not affect creatures such as elementals or oozes. Further if a grievous wound is rolled for a feature that does not exist (or no longer exists) on a creature, then no grievous wound is applied. 'Magic' An adventurer can expect to gain spells one of three ways: he can be taught, he can buy one, or he can find one. As the FACS field guide says, "It never hurts to simply ask if someone has a scroll." Many an interesting and useful spell is gained in the most peculiar ways... As opposed to the traditional Pathfinder, spells in Quest for Glory are not specifically split into levels. Each spell instead has an Effective Spell Level (ESL) for use with Spell DC calculations. Instead of gaining access to higher level spells as a character advances, all spells are accessible if the spell can be learned from a source. You will see the abbreviation "MAMod" in spell descriptions. MAMod refers to a character's magical ability modifier, which is dependant on the character's class and/or alignment. In any instance that you see MAMod in a spell's description, you use the modifier that applies. 'Stamina & Mana' 'Stamina' ' Stamina' is a measurement of physical endurance in the process of physically demanding activity. There are five things that diminish stamina: sleep deprivation, hunger, strenuous activity (such as fighting, running, climbing, etc.), special abilities (such as magic, spell-like abilities and a few of the Paragon's activated Parables), and certain kinds of attacks against you. An easy way to track Stamina is with counters, since it is a number that will change often. Two different colors of counters will work best if you are a spellcaster. 'Base Stamina Score' All characters regardless of their class start with either 10 + Con 'or '''10 + Str Stamina '(whichever is higher). Each time a character gains a new attack from their Base Attack Bonus (at +6, +11, and +16), they get one more stamina permanently. '''Mana Mages, Warlocks, Spellswords, Polymaths and Paladins are granted bonus stamina for the sole purpose of casting spells or using spell-like abilities, called Mana. Once the character’s mana is worn through, spells begin to wear on the caster’s normal stamina. No character may use spells or spell-like abilities if they have no stamina (unless they have the Magical Fury feat). *'Mages' gain 5 + MAMod + ½ character level mana. *'Warlocks' gain 2 + Int + ½ character level mana. *'Spellswords and Bards' gain 1 + Cha + ¼ character level mana; Spellswords only gain this at level 2. *'Polymaths' who choose Mana through their class abilities gain ½ character level mana. *'Paladins' gain 2 + Cha mana at level 3 (although the Paladin class does not add their Mana to characters that already have Mana from another class, except Polymaths). *'Paragons' and Darkhands may gain mana for their spell-like abilities only through the Spell Vigor feat, which permanently grants 3 extra points of mana. *'Brigands', Fighters and Sentinels may gain mana in the same way, but it would only become useful if they became Paladins later. 'Stamina Loss' The loss of stamina can begin to affect your character’s performance: *At 6 stamina, characters attempting to use spells or spell-like abilities have a 10% failure chance in addition to whatever other spell failure chance they may have already. *At 3 stamina, characters get a -1 to all skill checks, spell DC’s, attack rolls and damage rolls. *At 0 stamina, characters lose their Dexterity and Wisdom bonuses to AC. They also lose their Shield bonus to AC, but may retain any bonus from a spell providing a Shield bonus as well as a +1 Shield bonus if they are using a tower shield. Characters with 0 stamina may never cast spells or use spell-like abilities without the Magical Fury feat (p100). All further stamina drain is taken from Hit Points instead, at a rate of 6 hp per 1 stamina. 'A character who has not been injured in a way that would theoretically leave an open wound but whose Hit Point total drops to or below 0 HP due to hit point drain by Stamina Exhaustion automatically stabilizes. Whether the specific situation applies is at the DM's discretion. 'Stamina Exhaustion Stamina can be lost in a number of ways. The following tables show the majority of these ways. The DM has discretion on whether or not certain situations would incur a use of stamina. Any time a die must be rolled and land on 1 to determine whether a stamina is lost in a situation, it is called a Stamina Exhaustion roll. Certain classes (such as Fighters and Sentinels) have the Old Hand of Rigors ability, which allows them to reroll this a certain number of times per day, if they so choose. NOTE: You will see the abbreviation 1/1dx used throughout the following tables. This abbreviation means that for each roll of 1 on 1dx (e.g. 1d4, 1d6, etc.), you lose 1 stamina. Skill Check Stamina Use Acrobatics (Balance) For each 10' section of movement requiring a DC 15 and over Balance check, roll 1/1d4. Acrobatics (Jump) A jump with a running start costs 1 stamina. Repeated jumping may begin to cost stamina, but just one or two jumps does not. Acrobatics (Tumble) 1 stamina per Tumble check. Climb and Swim In the following table, the DC column indicates the DC of the Climb or Swim check; the Distance Modifier column indicates the distance climbed before each roll is made; and the Stamina column indicates the consumption of Stamina. The Endurance feat multiplies the Distance Mod by 3. Escape Artist 1 stamina per 10 DC on a successful Escape Artist check; 1 stamina on a failed Escape Artist check. Recovery Stipulations Rest Rest functions only in uninterrupted 15 minute intervals. 15 minutes of rest recovers 1d4 stamina + 1 mana. Taking the Zen feat increases the recovery of mana by this means to 2 mana per 15 minutes of rest instead of 1. You may rest up until your stamina is recovered (but not mana), or until you have rested for an hour within any contiguous two-hour period. If you do rest for an hour inside of a contiguous two-hour period, you may not rest again for another two hours, or unless or until your stamina is below 1/4 its maximum. Sleep As with normal sleep, 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep will recover 1 hit point per character level; it will also recover all stamina and mana. A character who stays up treating a wounded character with a successful Heal check of 15 will double the attended character's hit point recovery rate as they sleep. Action Stamina Use Engaging in Combat The GM tracks the number of rounds a character spends engaged in combat (see below). After four rounds engaged in combat, each following round that the character engages in combat costs 1 stamina. The Body Mechanics feat changes this to six rounds.The GM tracks the number of rounds a character spends engaged in combat (see below). After four rounds engaged in combat, each following round that the character engages in combat costs 1 stamina. The Body Mechanics feat changes this to six rounds. : What counts as being in combat?: If you perform a melee or ranged attack, you are considered as being in combat. If someone performs a melee or ranged attack on you, or casts spells at you that have a chance to hit or, if successful, cause you hit point damage or status effects, this also is considered as being in combat. A possible exception is being behind a spell that you are not concentrating on and that deflects attacks being made against you without your active participation. Every round spent outside of combat diminishes two rounds of being counted as "in combat." As such, if you have spent 7 rounds in combat (assuming you do not have the Body Mechanics feat), you would have to wait 2 rounds outside of combat (thereby reducing the count to 3) before your next round in combat did not drain stamina. The Body Mechanics feat allows you to diminish 3 rounds of active combat for one round outside of it, instead of just 2. This does not include Combat Maneuvers such as Overrun or Grapple, which are covered below under Combat Maneuvers; or Charges during combat which are also covered below under Run, Charge, or Full Withdrawal. Taking Damage Whenever a creature is hit for HP damage by any means other than Negative Energy, if the damage dealt is greater than 5 + the damaged creature's Con score (after taking their Damage Reduction into account), that creature loses 1 stamina. Combat Maneuvers (Bull Rush, Drag, Overrun, Sunder, Grapple) Bull Rush, Drag, Overrun, and Sunder: 1 stamina (including the charge where applicable). Grapple: Both combatants make 1/1d4 Exhaustion rolls when the grapple is initiated.During a grapple, the attacker instead rolls 1/1d6 while the defender rolls 1/1d4 each round the grapple is in effect. If the defender breaks the grapple, both combatants lose 1 stamina. Spellcasting (and spell-like abilities) Each spell has its own stamina cost, as shown in the spell's description. The stamina for a spell is spent whether the spell was successful or not. Run, Charge, or Full Withdrawal (in combat) 1 stamina per round. A double move does not constitute a charge, and likewise does not cost stamina. Running (out of combat) 2 stamina per minute. If you have the Run feat or the Endurance feat, it becomes 1 stamina every 2 minutes; if you have both, it becomes 1 stamina every 5 minutes. . Category:The Guide Category:Character Creation